 One of the approaches I take as a yoga teacher and also psychotherapist is to pay attention to what is coming up. I follow what is emerging in the energetic field and my intent is to bring curiosity, acceptance and neutrality to it. It’s a very organic method of working led by the process vs. me trying to take control and direct things in a certain way, which is definitely a go to place of mine. I like certainty and I like to know where I’m heading. Yoga and Body Psychotherapy have taught and continue to teach me to stand in an empty room and wait. Instead of wanting to make things happen or having a pre-conceived idea where life takes me, I’m working on allowing the process to move through as it needs to. My intent is to hold space for the people I work with in exactly that way. And as my therapist used to say: It takes a lot of courage and nerve to stand in an empty room. It’s about creating space, not filling it back up and then waiting what is coming to the surface. In the current times with all the uncertainty, I feel this is more relevant than ever.
What happens when you stand in an empty space? What are your go to places? What happens when there is space in your life?
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 The overarching feelings for the last two to three weeks, in myself and my clients, have been overwhelm, exhaustion and anxiety. For me, lockdown provided quite a strong structure of what I could and could not do. The easing out of lockdown has brought more uncertainty and in some respects more headache, as things are so much more in flux and continuously shifting. Guidelines are not always clear, feelings are running high and sensitivities have been touched.
Ana Forrest is famous for saying: "Evolve or die". The nature of yoga studios is changing and we are moving towards a "hybrid model" of offering classes online and in-person at the same time. This means that yoga teachers and studios are required to teach differently, learn new skills and stay flexible in terms of what is possible. The ground is ever moving and there is a distinct lack of solidity. My own experience at the moment is that my skin is very thin, I have a sense of being stripped bare and my connection to the ground is less present. I feel vulnerable and raw. I also recognise that being stripped bare offers the opportunity to let go of the old and to make a conscious decision on how and what to move forward with. For me, it has been a very deliberate process of deciding what people to surround myself with and what relationships to free myself from. The shaky ground is an opportunity to create a new vision of Equilibrium and also of myself. I'd like to thank all of you who supported me on my journey. Thank you all who supported Equilibrium Yoga Centres in the last 12 years, but especially the last 4 months. Walk in beauty. Sandra  We're excited that we will be opening our doors again on 25th of July, both in Peterborough and Huntingdon. The first session in Peterborough in person will take place on Saturday 25th of July and in Huntingdon on Monday 27th of July. We've put together a timetable taking into consideration the results of the survey where we listened to your voice, the availability and willingness of the teachers to come to the studios, cleaning times and general logistics around the changed reality due to covid. We think we've come up with a great solution: a good mix of different styles and teachers at times you told us you preferred, in-person and live-streamed sessions with your favourite teachers, new teachers and guest teachers from all over the world, including a regular live streamed Yin Yoga class on a Tuesday morning with South African yoga teacher Ridwaan Lockhart from 4th of August. We understand that the timetable is not perfect and that your most favourite class or teacher might not be on the timetable or at a time you like. We welcome any feedback, and will consider it for future changes. What we have put in place:To embrace our new changed world, here is what we have put into place:
Our timetableHere is an explanation about the timetable:
What we need you to do:Here is what we need you to do for the in-person classes:
Our Terms & ConditionsOur Terms and Conditions have changed: IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ:
Memberships: If you are currently a 12 monthly member and you'd like to cancel your membership, please contact us by 30th of July. You will be able to cancel your membership free of charge with immediate effect. After that, the regular terms and conditions apply to your membership, i.e. 12 monthly commitment or if you have been a member for 12 months already, a 30-day notice period. We're currently unclear about mask regulations, so please bear with us and we will send you some further information once we have an update. Our landscape has been continually changing and we're constantly reviewing best practices, governmental regulations, recommendations by UK Yoga Alliance and expert advice. Please bear with us as we are navigating this increasingly more complex terrain. We very much feel that in these times yoga is an incredible tool to stay grounded and centred with strong boundaries enabling us to have compassion for others without losing ourselves. We hope through these measures we will create an enjoyable experience for teachers, therapists and clients alike and provide a space where we can come back home to ourselves in a peaceful and restful way. Our thanks go to all of you who supported us through this pandemic by showing up online and buying drop ins, memberships and passes. Thank you all also for your kind words and your encouragement during these challenging times. Walk in beauty Sandra  This is a pre-announcement that we will be opening our doors both in Huntingdon and Peterborough on 25th of July. Please bear with us as we are finalising the timetable and processes, so that we can enjoy being at the centre safely and responsibly.
We cannot wait to see you in person. We will continue with our live streamed classes, too, in case you can't or don't want to make it in person. Please bear with us as we are pulling all information together. You will get a very detailed update on Friday. Huge thank you, as always, to all the people who have been supporting us. Walk in beauty Sandra  We'd like to update you on the current situation. As per governmental regulations, we will not be able to open on 4th of July. We will keep you posted about when it's safe and compliant for us to return to the premises. We definitely can't wait to see you all in person! Meanwhile we've been working on our timetable and set up by reading and analysing the results of the survey. Thank you all who took part in it. If you have not already done so, have your say and shape a future Equilibrium that you want to be part of. The survey only takes less than 3 minutes to complete: This is what we've been busy working on:
We will soon send out a second survey with a suggested timetable for you to review and comment on. We'd like your input. Please remember that the survey is anonymous. If you want us to know your name, please put it into the comment box or write to us separately: sandra@equilibriumyoga.co.uk Finally, thank you all for your very encouraging comments and constructive feedback. Thank you all who have been supporting us through this very difficult time by taking part in our live streamed and recorded sessions. Thank you all who have shown kindness through your words and actions. They have been very much appreciated. Walk in beauty Sandra  Sometimes a week or days can be summarised by or explored through one word. For this and last week, this word has been "discernment" for me. It has come up for me in a session with my supervisor, who has trained in and taught a psychotherapeutic tradition that is based on Buddhism. One of the definition of discernment (not in the Buddhist sense, but in the broader sense) is "the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure" (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Other definitions include words like insight and being able to judge well and accurately. A lot of the work I have been doing is about understanding what is my real and authentic self and where am I stuck in my patterns. Sometimes being triggered, or in transference, can feel like reality. However, I know that when I take my time and importantly slow down, I can distinguish, i.e. discern, between my defences and coping mechanism and my real self, i.e. between what is the immediate and real experience and what I have fallen into, unconsciously.
For me personally, when I'm in my pattern, there is a sense of urgency to do something, a feeling of not wanting to be with what is emerging and a desire to discharge the overwhelming emotions. This is often accompanied with a lack of grounding and thoughts that are in a constant loop. On the other hand, when I'm in contact with my authentic self and what is truly emerging within me vs. the secondary more interpretative energies that are often layered on top, I'm more centred, more grounded and slower. I am in contact with my centre and with what is real. The art is to discern: what is real and what is made up; what is coming from the core and what is story. Walk in beauty. Sandra  Brene Brown in her book "Rising Strong" talks about comparison as the killer of joy and creativity and I could not agree more. Endless hours of social media often leave me in a place of confusion, doubt and exhaustion. Part of my commitment to myself is therefore to limit my hours on social media platforms and become aware when I'm moving into comparing myself with others, highlighting other people's achievements, undermining mine and feeling therefore not good enough. I'd like to stress that this has nothing to do with what other people post; it's about my own process. The internal feeling is "I need to do more" and I experience it as a constriction in my chest and frequently my throat. It's in those moments if I can catch myself, be with the direct experience in the body and get out of the story, things shift. What has helped me before is to remind myself to "swim in my own lane", which is an expression Brene Brown coined. She uses swimming for joy and meditation. However in the past, when she synced her strokes with the person next to her, she almost injured herself. Swimming in my own lane for me means feeling into the questions of: What do I need? What brings me joy? What is my own rhythm of life? As a community, we connect through our similarities, but we thrive by making room for our differences. I invite you to make room for your own differences, have your own back and follow your own path. There is no blue print on how to move through these times right now. Be guided by your own feeling and intuition, be inspired by people around you, but stay away from comparing. We'd like to offer a free recording for this week again. With these free recordings we hope to support people who are financially in a difficult place right now and can't afford to come to live sessions or sign up for our recordings. But of course, it's for the enjoyment of everybody. Thank you Marta for your generosity in providing this class. Here is the link to our Timetable including Recordings: Finally, we'd like to remind you that we've reverted back to our regular refund and cancellation policy. We, however, continue to suspend our 24 hour notice of cancellation policy. You will be able to cancel free of charge up until the class starts. Classes will be charged in full if not cancelled at all. This policy is now in place until 31st of May 2020. Please understand that we unfortunately cannot extend passes or membership.
If you have a credit on your account, there is no time limit by which you need to use this credit. You can redeem the credit online when you purchase a drop-in, class pass or any other product/service. The system will give you the option of using the credit to pay or part-pay for your purchase. Thank you all who have been supporting us by purchasing memberships, drop-ins and class passes! Walk in beauty Sandra  Words and concepts that have been coming up over the last couple of week are: balance, paradox, juxtaposition, polar opposites, integration and abandonment. They are all qualities of the fourth chakra, the heart chakra, which is the middle point and the centre of the chakra system. Interestingly, on a physical level this chakra includes the heart and the lungs. According to Anodea Judith (Eastern Body, Western Mind), in the heart chakra we continue our individuation, i.e. our journey of finding ourselves and becoming who we are, by developing balance of the inner female and male, anima and animus. This is less about gender than about opposites forces that are residing in each of us. We all carry paradoxes: On the one hand we might want to really come out of the lock down, on the other hand, we might be scared of and tread it. Instead of needing to choose one over the other, Anodea Judith suggests that "the more we allow one kind of energy, the more the other can come through". It's not about either looking forward to OR being scared of it, it's about looking forward to AND being scared of it at the same time. Both are true and the work is to make room for the paradox, in that sense widening our identity and not abandoning parts of ourselves. Thank you all who contributed to these reflections. We hope that yoga enables you to expand and contain seemingly opposing aspects of yourself. Here is a free recording - thanks to Janet's generosity. Here is the link to our Timetable including Recordings: Finally, we'd like to remind you that we've reverted back to our regular refund and cancellation policy. We, however, continue to suspend our 24 hour notice of cancellation policy. You will be able to cancel free of charge up until the class starts. Classes will be charged in full if not cancelled at all. This policy is in place until 8th of May 2020. Please understand that we unfortunately cannot extend passes or membership.
Thank you all who have been supporting us by purchasing memberships, drop-ins and class passes! Walk in beauty + enjoy this bank holiday weekend Sandra  Gestalt therapy talks about the paradox of change, which at its core says that change only truly happens when we are fully invested in what is. The moment we push away our experiences and feelings and wish for things to be different, lasting transformation is elusive. This week I have witnessed beautiful examples in my clients and also in myself when there was a letting go and accepting of the moment, often a difficult reality, and how feelings and sensations organically shifted into the opposite direction. By allowing the dark, the light appears. By feeling the pain, excitement enters. By admitting the sadness, hope comes in. Sometimes, the sense is that when we do yoga, meditate or do other mindfulness practices, difficult feelings should not appear. Actually, all these tools help us to relate to what is happening differently, so that we can hang out in the present moment without running away or drowning in the experience. When we can be present with what is, shifts occur and lasting change surfaces - organically and sustainably. Whatever is arising is part of the process and it's pointing us in the direction of our next step. It's not something to get rid of, but something to pay attention to. It's about staying with the direct and immediate experience of what's going on. In that way, we hope you will be able to use yoga as a practice for true transformation. Enjoy this free session from us. Thank you Kate F. for making this possible: Free Recording of Live Streamed Class Finally, we'd like to remind you that we've reverted back to our regular refund and cancellation policy. We, however, continue to suspend our 24 hour notice of cancellation policy. You will be able to cancel free of charge up until the class starts. Classes will be charged in full if not cancelled at all. This policy is in place until 8th of May 2020. Please understand that we unfortunately cannot extend passes or membership.
Thank you all who have been supporting us by purchasing memberships, drop-ins and class passes! Walk in beauty + enjoy the weekend Sandra  We hope that you and your loved ones are healthy and safe. I have done a lot of decluttering during the last four weeks. I'm a huge fan of Marie Kondo and just like she says: Once you declutter and tidy, you understand what is important in your life or what changes need to be made. After the clearing process, my triggers around not doing enough especially when it comes to owning and managing a studio have been staring into my face. There are also huge inadequacies around teaching and offering body psychotherapy. When I'm triggered or in psychotherapy terms when I'm in transference, it's like going down the rabbit hole. It has many complicated stages, thought processes, diversions, painful emotions, etc. Most of it is made up and old story. When reading Sharon Salzberg's Real Happiness, which is on the Forrest Yoga booklist, the following jumped out at me: the process is about starting again and again and again. The moment I want to go down the rabbit hole, it's about recognising it, being gentle with myself and then choosing not to go down there - again and again and again. Even though the rabbit hole might feel familiar, seemingly safe, diverting and somewhat comforting, it's not serving me. It has in the past, but not any longer. This is not about eliminating the rabbit hole either, it's about recognising earlier when I'm about to go down there. I love the following paragraph out of Alice in Wonderland: "... suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural);...." It's about catching the rabbit with the waistcoat and the pink eyes earlier and understanding that something is not quite right; something got activated. It's about catching it earlier, looking at it, wondering about it and choosing not to go down the rabbit hole. We hope that the yoga sessions we offer can support you to stay out of the rabbit hole. Here is the link to the free class. Thank you Brian for making this possible: Free Recording of Live Streamed Class Finally, we'd like to remind you of our changed refund and cancellation policy. Until 1st of May, we will allow partial refunds back onto your client account, so that you are not losing any unused sessions. Please contact us by 30th of April to get this arranged. Your class pass needs to be valid in order for us to be able to issue the refund. We've also currently suspended our 24 hour notice of cancellation policy. You will be able to cancel free of charge up until the class starts. Classes will be charged in full if not cancelled at all. This policy is in place until 30th of April 2020. Please understand that we unfortunately cannot extend passes or membership.
Thank you all who have been supporting us by purchasing memberships, drop-ins and class passes! Walk in beauty + have a wonderful weekend Sandra |
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